SOLD! - 2012 LOW SERIAL Gibson Paul Kossoff 1959 Les Paul Std Tom Murphy Aged

This single digit serial Paul Kossoff is all original with COA, case and paperwork as pictured. The pickups and pots were once replaced by real vintage PAF's and pots but these have been removend and now it's back to stock again.
 
Paul Kossoff
 
Though he died in 1976, aged just 25, Paul Kossoff's guitar work invariably enters at the top of any discussion of classic Les Paul performances. Playing with the legendary British blues-rock band Free, he exhibited a tone, skill, energy and pure musicality that put him among the pantheon of great British guitar stars. Kossoff had a unique take on the blues-rock movement, exhibited particularly in the masterful vibrato that helped to give his Les Paul a huge, dynamic voice — and the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard on which he achieved such heights is known to be one of greatest sounding 'Bursts ever made.

2012 saw Gibson pay tribute to this Burst with 100 hand-aged replicas and 250 VOS versions, thanks to the generosity of it's owner Arthur Ramm. Arthur’s band, Beckett, supported Free in Newcastle in the early 1970s; it was the night before Free were to split. Kossoff threw his 1959 Les Paul Standard into the air, breaking the neck, and walked off the stage. In the dressing room, Kossoff spotted Arthur’s refinished 1968 Goldtop.

Arthur was out of the room, so Kossoff’s roadie went to look for him. Arthur returned to find Kossoff with the Goldtop around his neck. He asked to borrow it. When he came off stage, the Free guitarist told Arthur his guitar was lovely and asked if he wanted to swap. Arthur said “well, you’ve broken yours!” to which Kossoff replied, “I’ve got this other one” and pointed to a case containing the stripped-finish ’Burst used at the Isle of Wight in 1970. Arthur told Kossoff that if he got the broken one fixed he would prefer that.

Arthur kept the Isle of Wight guitar for many months while waiting for the other ‘Burst to be repaired. One night in Hamburg, his roadie put it in the case and closed only one latch. They were walking out of the club when suddenly the case opened and the guitar fell out onto the cobbled street. Arthur looked at his roadie and said “what’s one more dent?”
When his sunburst Les Paul was fixed, Kossoff decided he wanted to keep it. Arthur went to London to return the stripped-finished Les Paul in exchange for his own, but they kept in touch and met up whenever Kossoff was in the North East.

The sunburst Les Paul went on to be used by Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Kossoff had swapped the sunburst Les Paul for a black, three-pickup Custom belonging to John Porter, the bassist in Roxy Music, who then loaned the ’Burst to Manzanera. Kossoff eventually got it back, and used it in his new band Back Street Crawler. After Kossoff passed away in 1976, Arthur bought this amazing guitar for £700 and he still owns it today.